This invention relates to anchoring sinks in countertops through apertures which have been formed there to receive them. More particularly, it relates to utilizing an elongated stud anchored, as by welding, to the underside of a flange surrounding the sink and a locking link engaged on the body of the stud. When the link is forced away from the countertop, as by turning a bolt which extends from the link to engage the underside of the countertop, the stud, and the sink flange portion to which it is joined, are moved downwardly past the countertop, and the flange of the sink is drawn downwardly by the stud to a point where it is fastened against the upper side of the countertop.
Sink anchoring systems are generally summed up in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,995. Sink bowls are conventionally held in an opening in a countertop by way of mounting brackets spot-welded, for example, to the lower surface of the bowl flange overlapping the opening, the brackets being provided with apertures through which are passed fasteners, such as wood screws driven into the countertop material at the edge of the opening, or through the bottom surface of the countertop proximate the edge of the opening. The mounting brackets may be in the form of separate bracket elements welded at convenient locations, or in the form of a molding strip, the brackets being L-shaped in some installations and U-shaped in other installations. Other methods of securing a sink bowl in a countertop opening have been devised which avoid driving fasteners, such as wood screws, into the material of the countertop. Such alternate methods generally use clamping arrangements formed integrally with the mounting brackets, including threaded members passed through appropriate threaded apertures in the bracket engaging the surface of the countertop, generally the lower surface proximate the edge of the opening, and holding the sink bowl in position by pulling the bowl flange edge into engagement with the top surface of the countertop proximate the opening.
The fastening system in the ""995 patent incorporates an upside down L-shaped angle-iron strip welded to the underside of the sink bowl flange. A C-shaped clamp has a top leg which nests into a runner along the toe of the angle-iron strip. The bottom leg of the C-shaped clamp is pierced to accommodate a threaded member whose head is below and outside of the C-shape of the clamp. A rim portion of a countertop aperture intrudes into the middle of the C-shape of the clamp, at which point the threaded member can be turned so that it will engage the underside of the rim portion. As the threaded member is turned and thrust against the rim portion, the top leg of the C-shaped clamp drags the L-shaped bracket, and the sink flange to which the bracket is welded, into firm contact with the upper side of the counter top rim portion.
Another fastening system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,532, issued Feb. 8, 2000. In that system, too, a channel member is fastened to the underside of a perimeter flange around a sink. In the ""532 patent the channel member has an inverted U-shaped cross section. The depending legs of the channel are formed with upwardly facing shoulder members which are situated inside the channel opposite each other. A pin with a conical head extends into the channel so that the underside of the shoulders of the cone engage the shoulder members on the channel legs. When the pin is drawn downwardly, it pulls the U-shaped channel, and the sink flange to which it is affixed, to engage the flange on the upper side of a countertop. The pin has a second conical head, opposite the head inside the channel which is fixed in a base unit with an annular face. A series of flat surfaces which increase gradually in height around the annular face provide an increasing circumferential thickness of the base unit. The annular face engages the underside of the countertop adjacent the aperture for the sink, and when the base unit is turned, the pin with the conical heads has its upper end drawn down onto the shoulders of the channel thereby drawing the sink flange to which the channel is attached down against the upper side of the countertop.
The present invention does not require the material or the tooling which the constructions in the above-described patents call for, and it also avoids the much more exact tolerances which the prior constructions demanded. The elements of the present invention are easier to handle and assemble, and they are faster to install
The present invention is embodied in an assembly which includes a countertop that has a portion of its surface arranged for installing a sink. There is an aperture in that portion for the sink to be dropped into, and there is a rim portion of the countertop located around the aperture. A perimeter flange on the sink overlies the rim portion when the sink is disposed in the aperture. Studs depend from the sink""s perimeter flange. Each stud has a first end secured to the perimeter flange, a distal end adjacent the underside of the countertop, and a body portion in between the ends. A link located between the stud and the rim portion of the countertop has a first end portion extending toward the underside of the countertop rim portion and a stud engagement portion disposed on the body portion of the stud. A displacement means located on the first end portion of the link is simultaneously moveable against the underside of the countertop rim portion and the first end portion of the link. When the displacement means is moved against these elements, the link moves the stud downwardly through the aperture passing it past the rim portion of the countertop and drawing the sink flange to which the stud is fastened into secure engagement with the upper side of the countertop rim portion.
From the foregoing, and from what follows, it will be apparent that the present invention solves a need for a less expensive way to fasten a sink securely in place in a countertop.
Accordingly, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide a sink clamping assembly in a countertop installation utilizing a stud affixed to and depending from the underside of a perimeter flange on the sink.
It is another object of this invention to provide a sink clamping assembly in a countertop installation in which a stud member depending from a flange on the sink is readily grasped around its midportion by a link which, when moved away from the countertop, pulls the stud through the aperture in which the sink is positioned and draws the flange on the sink against the upper side of the countertop.
It is another object of this invention to eliminate an expensive engagement means such as a welded rail or a welded track on the underside of the sink""s perimeter flange and to provide an easier, less demanding engagement member attached to the flange.
It is another object of this invention to provide a sink flange and countertop engagement having less sophisticated, lower cost parts than prior combinations which have been offered.
Other objects and features of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the practical art of installing and attaching sinks in countertops as well as to those skilled in the art of designing and manufacturing sink-to-countertop attachment mechanisms, especially after an examination of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and of the accompanying drawings.